Pre-IPO Sector News Update
January 19, 2021
Better appointed Diane Yu as its new CTO. She previously founded FreeWheel (an ad monetization platform for media networks) and worked in the Engineering department at DoubleClick.
Blend Labs raised $300 million at a $3.3 billion valuation.
Byju’s acquired Aakash, an operator of 200 brick-and-mortar coaching centers.
Checkout.com raised $450 million at a $15 billion valuation.
Cockroach Labs raised $160 million at a $2 billion valuation.
GitLab completed a $195 million secondary sale at a $6 billion valuation.
Plaid’s $5.3 billion merger with Visa wasn’t completed due to the DOJ filing an antitrust lawsuit.
The news articles and links presented below are available for your reference.
AFFIRM
“Affirm Prices IPO Above Expected Range at $49 per Share, Raising $1.2 Billion for the Point-of-sale Fintech Firm”
BETTER
“As Home Sales Skyrocket and IPO Looms, Diane Yu Joins Fintech Better.com as CTO”
BLEND LABS
“S.F. Fintech Blend Sees Valuation Rise to $3.3B After Netting $300M More in Cash”
BYJU’S
“Edtech Giant Byju's to Acquire Top Coaching Institute Aakash for $1 Billion”
CHECKOUT.COM
“Fintech Firm Checkout.com Crowned Europe’s Top Unicorn After Tripling Valuation to $15 Billion”
COCKROACH LABS
“CockroachDB Creator Cockroach Labs Raises $160 Million at a $2 Billion Valuation”
GITLAB
“GitLab Oversaw a $195 Million Secondary Sale that Values the Company at $6 Billion”
PLAID
“Visa Abandons Takeover of Plaid After DOJ Raises Antitrust Concerns”